IMMIGRATION DEPT ACTS ON BABY’S PLIGHT
Speedy passport processing enables dad to fly child to UK for treatment
THE parents of baby girl Ainul Mardhiah, who is suffering from germ cell tumour, are finalising her travel documents.
This is to enable the 8-monthold to go to London, the United Kingdom, to seek treatment.
They are likely to receive their daughter’s passport at the latest by tomorrow, said Ainul Mardhiah’s
father, Ahmad Saifuddin Ahmad Razak.
He said officers from the Immigration Department had met him over his daughter’s international passport application. The department’s staff will hand over the passport when it is ready.
Saifuddin said he was grateful to the Immigration Department for its assistance.
The infant’s plight had caught the attention of UK-based Malaysian-born trainee surgeon Dr Nur Amalina Che Bakri, who expressed her intention to seek the advice of her acquaintances in the UK medical fraternity on how best to treat the child.
“The date to London has yet to be fixed. However, Dr Amalina has told us to be ready with the travel documents and other necessities.
“On the treatment cost, I believe that the contribution from the public is sufficient, though the actual cost is not known yet,” Saifuddin said.
The Melaka government had also come forward to help the family and will bear the family’s travel cost to the UK.
Chief Minister Adly Zahari said the state government had agreed, in principle, to ease the burden of the baby’s family to seek treatment overseas.
“The surgery is costly and, for the time being, we will assist the child and her family with regard to their flight and transport costs,” he said last Friday.
Ainul Mardhiah’s treatment is expected to cost around RM1 million. She was born seven months’ premature and was diagnosed with the disease at birth.
Germ cell tumour may be benign or cancerous. At 10 days old, Ainul Mardhiah was initially treated at Melaka General Hospital before being transferred to Kuala Lumpur Hospital, where the growth was removed from her mouth.
After the surgery, Saifuddin said his daughter was like any other child her age and full of life. But he said although his daughter had undergone chemotherapy twice, there was no change and the tumour in her mouth had grown again.